Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria Found Tightly Associated with the 50-70 μm Cell-Size Population of Eukaryotic Phytoplankton in Surface Waters of a Northeast Atlantic Region.

ABSTRACT: The surface of marine eukaryotic phytoplankton can harbour communities of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria; however, this algal-bacterial association has, hitherto, been only examined with non-axenic laboratory cultures of micro-algae. In this study, we isolated an operationally-defined community of phytoplankton, of cell size 50-70 μm, from a natural community in sea surface waters of a subarctic region in the northeast Atlantic. Using MiSeq 16S rRNA sequencing, we identified several recognized (Alcanivorax, Marinobacter, Oleispira, Porticoccus, Thalassospira) and putative hydrocarbon degraders (Colwelliaceae, Vibrionaceae) tightly associated with the phytoplankton population. We combined fluorescence in situ hybridisation with flow-cytometry

SUBMITTER: Thompson HF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7763645 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature